Grandma's Christmas Wish

There is nothing like a grandmother's love. This sweet story celebrates the special bond between grandma and grandchild at Christmas time. With a bedtime-friendly singsong rhythm and adorable holiday illustrations, this books is sure to charm children and grandmothers alike!

BISAC Subjects

Reviews

School Library Journal - Grandma's Christmas Wish

Reviewed on 1 October 2015

Like the author’s previous Grandma Loves You (Sleeping Bear, 2013), this picture book is a love letter from a grandmother rabbit to her young bunny grandchild. Simple rhyming text (“You fill up my heart/with holiday cheer./I love you, my love,/my snowflake, my dear”) addressed to the bunny imagines the joys in store at Christmas, from stockings to presents to plenty of hugs and kisses. While the text is only peripherally about the holiday, the full-spread paintings depict a cozy burrow with a Christmas tree, handmade ornaments, and presents; outside glitters a snow-covered landscape. On every page, the rabbits hug, snuggle, play, and gaze into each other’s eyes—the grandma/grandchild love is clear. VERDICT Due to the space at the back to write a letter to one’s grandchild and paste a photo, this title would work better as a gift book than in a library setting.

Kirkus Reviews - Grandma's Christmas Wish

Reviewed on 1 September 2015

A gray grandma bunny expresses her love for her little bunny grandbaby in this sweetly sentimental sequel to Grandma Loves You! (2013). The short, gracefully rhyming text is written in first person from the grandma’s point of view, stating her love for her grandchild in different ways. Her Christmas wish is for nothing more than hugs and kisses from the little bunny, and of course the best Christmas present for a grandparent is the great gift of the grandchild’s mere existence. In the pictures, the kindhearted grandma helps the bunny put a star on the top of their tree, plays outside with the little one in the snow, and gives her grandchild a Christmas gift of a doll made from a pine cone and twigs. The text is playful and succinct, conveying emotion with just a few well-chosen words that will stand up to inevitable multiple rereadings. Soft-focus, detailed illustrations are filled with light in the rabbit’s cozy burrow and in snowy outdoor scenes with falling snowflakes or bright moonlight. The rabbits are utterly charming, with emotionally appealing faces expressing their joy in being together and their loving relationship. Concluding pages include space for a letter from grandmother to grandchild as well as a photo, which makes this more suitable for a gift purchase than for libraries. Perhaps a little too sweet in tone for some, but most grandmas would love to read this to a grandchild. (Picture book. 2-4)

Contributors

Helen Foster James has been an educator for more than twenty years, and is now a lecturer at San Diego State University. She received her doctorate from Northern Arizona University. One of her goals is to travel to all 50 states, and she has already visited more than half. She lives in San Diego, California, with big stacks of children’s books and her husband Bob.

Petra Brown has been a children’s book illustrator since 2006 when her first picture book If Big Can…I Can, was shortlisted for the Booktrust Early Years Awards for Best Emerging Illustrator. Since then she has been illustrating for a range of publishers in the United Kingdom and abroad. Petra comments, “I love drawing animals with human expressions. I find it such fun creating, for example, a thoughtful fox, a happy hippo, a shy sheep, or a caring bear! The other thing I like is creating landscapes, places where my characters can run about and have adventures. Living in a magnificent place like Snowdonia helps a great deal.” Petra lives with her partner in Wales.